Aside from a solo homer off the bat of Yankees catcher Brian McCann in the second, Scherzer -- who struck out two and walked none -- threw a gem on the mound and felt like gold off it. It was drastically different from how he felt after his first start last spring.

"My spring last year was a little bit different," he said. "I was trying to work through my offseason kinks and really try to dial in the curveball last year and get a feel for it."

Last spring, Scherzer was held back a week due to shoulder soreness he experienced late in the season. The heavy workload took a toll on his arm, and -- as a result -- he was the last pitcher on the club's 40-man roster to appear in an exhibition game the following spring and the last pitcher in the starting rotation to make a regular-season start.

"You don't realize when you pull milk out of the fridge, how much that hurts sometimes," said Scherzer when asked about soreness in the offseason. "You'd get a gallon of milk out of the fridge, you don't realize -- for pitchers -- like for me, it can hurt."

But not this past winter.

"It was much easier to pour that milk," he joked. "The milk was much better. I was able to grab it, pour and not feel a creak in my shoulder."

Like Scherzer, the Tigers aren't the least bit worried about his shoulder this year, and -- based on his first spring start Friday -- his arm strength certainly isn't a concern, either.

Scherzer mowed down the Yankees, throwing everything but the garbage bin in the first inning. His fastball, curveball, changeup, slider -- it was only his first spring start, but Scherzer said he had a feel for all of it.

"To be able to walk out of my first outing and say I felt like I got a good changeup, slider and a curveball, and a halfway decent fastball location," Scherzer said, "that's really good for a first outing."